Story Checkpoint: Online BPOC Writers’ Group with Jackie Mendoza

Most of the issues we wrestle with begin to loosen up once we discuss them. A problem shared is a problem halved, after all. Our monthly BPOC writers’ group, Story Checkpoint, will offer a place to talk through issues you’re coming across in your writing and open discussion on possible solutions.

Expect more than just your ’standard’ writers’ group exercises. We’ll also explore aspects of our practice in more depth such as: what’s your motivation? Why do you write? What does ‘writing from the heart’ mean to us and how do we each achieve that?

Feedback from previous participants:
I loved the sessions with Jackie for the WOL BPOC online writing sessions in February of this year. Jackie is so organised and made everyone feel welcome, but what made these sessions stand out was the sense of calmness you get with Jackie at the helm. It was a safe place to speak, learn, write and make friends. Fantastic.
Dr Nicola Brooks-Williamson

Being a Writer, especially a Writer of colour had increasingly begun to feel felt quite isolating for me. I was looking to join a writing group for a while. Although I had been involved in writing groups through other courses in the past, I had never quite connected. From the outset, I found WOL writing group to be respectful, open, understanding and stimulating. Jackie created a space where we could be vulnerable both about our writing and our experiences as writers of colour in the Industry – I don’t think I had ever experienced that before.
Although we have not met in person, I now consider the group members my friends and regularly find myself reflecting back on conversations we have had. I confidently share my writing in progress, knowing that the feedback I recieve will be honest and best intended for me to improve and evolve as a Writer. I would really recommend joining a WOL writing group.
Samreen

First session: 15 October 2025, 6pm-8pm
Online via Zoom
General admission £35 / Concessions £30
WOL Members General Admision £25 / Members Concession £20

What to expect?

Sessions will be held monthly, from October to December/January, facilitated by Jackie Mendoza, and are open to anyone who would like to talk through specific issues they’re coming across in their prose writing. After the sessions, there will be a chance to share samples of your work for feedback from the group.

During these sessions, you will learn techniques for providing constructive feedback to your peers, as well as the protocols for running a supportive writers’ group with peers, including:

Each person will have the opportunity to read out their work during at least one session and have their work discussed by peers, as well as provide feedback on others’ writing.

Session dates:

Your ticket will give you access to all three session. The first session will be on Wednesday 15 of October from 6pm to 8pm.

Each session is limited to eight-10 people, and the subsequent dates and times will be scheduled to accommodate the availability of the participants and the group facilitator. After the three sessions, if the group decides to self-facilitate future meetings, we can provide the group with access to WOL’s Pro Zoom account at no charge. The group will be responsible for its self-management.

Location & Access:

This workshop takes place online, on Zoom. Once you purchase a ticket, you will be emailed the zoom link and joining instructions. If you have any access requirements please let us know.

This group is only open for BPOC folks.

*BPOC stands for ‘Black people, People of Colour’ and is a self-identifying term. While we use the term BPOC, we acknowledge the limitations of this terminology. At the core of our network is the aim to address and overcome systemic barriers that our members face directly or indirectly based on their ethnic or national identities, race or perceived racial identities, or the colour of their skin as per the Equality Act of 2010. This includes people who identify as Black, brown, people of colour, Global Majority, mixed-race, multiple heritage and/or are from the Global South, and/or are East and South-East Asian, West Asian, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, African-Caribbean, Caribbean, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or First Nations, and diasporas.

About Jackie Mendoza

Jackie Mendoza has always loved writing – from the hand-made ‘books’ she created as a child, to the plays she wrote at university and the self-help book she self-published when working as an NLP coach. After retiring, she finally wrote the novel she’d been wanting to write for years, which was shortlisted for Peters Fraser & Dunlop’s Queer Fiction Prize in 2023. The same year, she won the first Underrepresented Writers’ Bursary for Goldsboro Writing Academy’s Advanced Writing Programme.

Jackie was born in Italy to Filipino parents and grew up in Hong Kong, Mexico and Spain before settling in the UK. Her writing often reflects themes of identity and belonging, and she particularly enjoys writing fantasy because of the scope it gives her to comment on current social issues through the veil of other worlds and power structures. Jackie is an NLP Master Practitioner with Certificates in Applied Neuroscience and Transpersonal Counselling. She weaves these elements with Shamanic practices and her writing experience into the workshops she facilitates.

jackiemendoza.co.uk | jackiemendoza.substack.com | IG: @writerandhounds | Threads @writerandhounds | BlueSky @writerandhounds.bsky.social